Satiating the Maternal Guilt

I have finally got round to fixing the "broken windows" in my children's ever-expanding list of physical needs.

Today, I bought Beth a pair of size 11 trainers from BigW. They aren't the most expensive ($25) or the best quality, but they will have to do. Kids wear out clothes and shoes so quickly there's no point in spending too much. I'm relieved she can finally ditch the white pair she's been wearing uncomplainingly to PE and Sports. They're so clearly falling apart at the seams that I'm not even going to offer them to the Op Shop.

An observation about trainers: it's funny how size 11 in one brand can be different from size 11 in another.

About 6 months ago, I decided to upsize Beth from the said size 10's and, blithely assuming the next size up was an 11, that was what I bought. Till now, she has not been able to fit into them; when she breaks into a run, one shoe flies off. She has had some embarrassing moments at Sports with the shoes, but like a good soldier, she's just taken it in her stride.

Here's the thing. The size 11 I bought her today is just a little bigger than her current pair and smaller than the too-big size 11's. I brought both old pairs of shoes along to be sure I got the sizing right, that's how I know. Third time lucky?

I also stopped by at Best & Less and found these size 2 trakkies for J. The poor thing has been wearing her size 1's forever even though she is 3. It took someone else to observe that her pants are mid-shin (hubby actually) to jolt me out of my denial of reality.

The strange thing about size 2 is, they're so hard to find. I don't know if it's only B&L that hides their size 2 clothing in obscure places, but it took me about 15 min to finally locate them. The size 3+ were prominently displayed at eye level, and baby sizes are the easiest thing to spot, but anything over size 1 was in the bottom rack in the middle of a huge selection of baby-plus sized clothing, partly crowded out by the rows of clothing above. Weird.

Last week, I found J a pair of size 7 joggers to replace her tatty white pair. She still wants to wear the white pair to daycare, bless her. But we agreed that on weekends and outings, she will wear her nice new pink pair. Just so Mummy doesn't feel other mums are staring at my kid and feeling sorry that she is so neglected!